Exploring British Sign Language Via Systemic Functional Linguistics

"One of many natural sign languages in use around the world, through the simultaneous use of embodied articulators British Sign Language (BSL) operates as a fully-fledged semiotic system in the visual-spatial modality. Filling a gap in current research in the field of sign language linguistic, this book investigates visual-spatial communications from a functional perspective. Presenting a description and analysis of BSL from the perspective of Hallidayean Systemic Functional Linguistics, Luke Rudge explores how BSL users make meaning from three different yet interrelated perspectives: How exchanges of information are managed at a social level (the interpersonal metafunction); How experience is encoded in the language (the experiential metafunction); How communications are organised into coherent parts and wholes (the textual metafunction). Examining these perspectives both separately and in unison, Exploring British Sign Language via Systemic Functional Linguistics places them within the context of current observations in sign linguistics, providing a complementary viewpoint on how visual-spatial communications may be understood as social semiosis."--

One of many natural sign languages in use around the world, British Sign Language (BSL) operates as a fully-fledged semiotic system in the visual-spatial modality, through the simultaneous use of embodied articulators. Filling a gap in current research, this book investigates visual-spatial communications from a functional perspective. Presenting a description and analysis of BSL from the perspective of Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics, Luke A. Rudge explores how BSL users make meaning from three different yet interrelated perspectives: - How exchanges of information are managed at a social level (the interpersonal metafunction) - How experience is encoded in the language (the experiential metafunction) - How communications are organised into coherent parts and wholes (the textual metafunction) Examining these perspectives both separately and together, Exploring British Sign Language via Systemic Functional Linguistics places them within the context of current observations in sign linguistics, providing a complementary viewpoint on how visual-spatial communications may be understood as social semiosis.

Designed to be the essential one-volume resource for students and researchers on Systemic Functional Linguistics.

A collection of interviews with M. A. K. Halliday spanning four decades, exhibiting the work of one of the world's leading linguists.

Introduction to systemic functional linguistics explores the social semiotic approach to language most closely associated with the work of Michael Halliday and his colleagues>

This is the first detailed explanation of the way British Sign Language works and is the product of many years' experience of research and teaching sign linguistics to deaf and hearing people. It assumes no previous knowledge of linguistics or sign language, and is not structured around traditional headings such as phonology, morphology and syntax. Instead it is set out in such a way as to help learners and their teachers understand the linguistic principles behind the language. There are sections on BSL grammar and also on the use of BSL, including social acceptability in signing, variation, and poetry and humour in BSL. Technical terms and linguistic jargon are kept to a minimum, and the text contains many examples from English, BSL, and other spoken and sign languages. The book is amply illustrated and contains exercises, as well as a reading list for further study. An accompanying 90-minute DVD is available from Talk With Sign Books. To find out more, visit http://www.talkwithsign.com/linguistics-british-sign-language-p-741.html.

Details the key terms, thinkers and texts in systemic functional linguistics.

A systemic functional linguistics study analysing how a wide range of modalities, other than language, make and communicate meaning. >